Aston Villa 3–1 Viking FK: The Villains maintain perfect start in the Champions League as theybreeze past the Vikings

Aston Villas rampant 3-1 victory against Viking FK takes the Villains into second in the group stage.

Unai Emery’s 215th European game in charge, went as smoothly as predicted as his men enjoyed a dominant display at Villa Park.

His Aston Villa side maintained their perfect Champions League record as they comfortably beat Norwegian champions Viking FK 3–0 to go second in the league phase, only behind PSG on goals scored.

Unai Emery;s men were rampant with a 2.67b xG and 21 shots in totally proving they deserved tonights victory.

Villa controlled the game from start to finish, and got an early goal through Ross Barkley’s 3rd goal in two Champions League games, as he scored his free header to put his team 1–0 up.

Emi Buendia made it 2–0 before half-time from the spot-kick, after Alysson’s silky skills earned a penalty after he was brought down by Viking FK captain Zlatko Tripic.

Alysson’s superb performance was almost rewarded with a goal, but his deflected effort went down as a Henrik Heggeim own goal, as Villa finished the night deserved 3–0 winners.

With no shots on target from Viking in the first half, the Norwegian side improved slightly in the second, but looked nothing like the side that drew with Bayern last week.

However, Peter Christiansen’s excellent volley towards the end gave Viking fans something to cheer about on an otherwise poor afternoon, as the game ended 3–1 to Emery’s side.

MATCH REPORT

It was the hosts that predictably started the better, dominating the early stages and threatening with a few decent chances, but Emery’s men couldn’t trouble Arild Ostbo in the Viking net.

That was until the 20th minute mark, where Villa started to find their groove.

Joao Gomes made a good run inside the box, and his deflected cross almost snuck underneath the crossbar, but it rebounded off the post and was cleared out for a corner.

From the resulting set-piece, new signing Ibrahim Mbaye whipped in a brilliant delivery towards an unmarked Ross Barkley at the near post, as the Englishman’s free header was expertly directed goalwards as he scored to give his side an early 1–0 lead.

It was the Englishman’s third goal in the Champions League this season, and his fourth goal

contribution in the last two UCL games.

The Villains had two glorious chances to make double their lead, both coming from Argentine playmaker Emi Buendia, who should’ve buried at least one of them.

The ex-Norwich man almost immediately put Villa two-up after going into the lead after Alysson’s shot was saved right into the path of Buendia, but he couldn’t direct his header into an empty net.

The second chance was slightly harder, with Villa having joy from another corner as Buendia ran onto an Alysson corner for a free header, but his effort was excellently saved by the Viking keeper.

A few moments later, Alysson is involved yet again, with the tricky winger causing all sorts or

problems for the Norwegian side.

The Brazilian drove into the box, before his stepovers caused Zlatko Tripic to bring him down, with the penalty call missed at first by VAR, before being brought back, as Villa were awarded a spot-kick.

Emi Buendia had a third bite at the cherry to score, as the Argentinian stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake with it, calmly sending the keeper the wrong way and giving Emery’s men a two-goal cushion.

It was 2–0 at the break, with Viking not really showing any signs at all of breaking the Villa defence.

However, the Norwegian side did start to find some enjoy at the start of the second period, with a few half chances and testing Zion Suzuki a lot more than the first half, but nothing came from their period of pressure.

Villa went back to controlling the game, and another moment of magic from Alysson produced thethird goal and sealed his team’s victory.

The Brazilian winger, who looked unstoppable tonight, was played down the right hand-side, and beat his defender easily, before trying to cross the ball into the path of Nicolas Jackson.

However, the ball deflected of Henrik Heggheim, as his sliding challenge redirected the ball and beat his own keeper, with his own goal giving Villa a deserved three goal lead.

The hosts continued to dominate, and looked likely to score another, if there was to be another goal in the game.

However, an outstanding goal from Peter Christiansen earned a consolation for the visitors, with his superb volley overturned by VAR after he was deemed onside to make it 3–1.

The game eventually fizzled out, despite late pressure from the away side, as Villa earned a

comfortable 3–1 victory at Villa Park.

Aston Villa have continued their good form, securing their fifth win in six games in all competitions, and maintaining their perfect start so far in the Champions League.

The Villains welcome Manchester City on Saturday for the lunchtime kick-off, in a massive game as they bid to end City’s own perfect record of six wins out of six in the league.

They travel to Barcelona in an exciting tie next time out in the Champions League, while Viking FK welcome Sabah to Norway in a big game for both sides in search for their first Champions League

victory.

MOTM: Alysson